Dubai gold trader gets first licence in cryptocurrencies for Middle East

Dubai gold trader Regal RA DMCC is the first company in the Middle East to get a licence to trade cryptocurrencies, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre said.

The company will offer storage of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies in a vault located in DMCC headquarters in Almas Tower in Dubai, the DMCC said in a statement. Regal RA started trading gold in Dubai in 2016.

“At the heart of DMCC’s long term strategic growth plan is the use of technology and innovation to disrupt and connect new markets, industries and customers,” DMCC Executive Chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem said in the statement. “The announcement today embodies this approach.”

Investors in cryptocurrencies are “reluctant” to store large amounts of the coins in online wallets and exchanges due to the risk of hacking, identify theft and malware, Tyler Gallagher, chief executive officer of Regal Assets, which owns Regal RA, said in the statement. “We have developed what we believe is the number one most secure way of investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto-commodities.”

Regal RA is working on an online trading platform for the crypto-commodities, said Ksenia Kiseleva, manager of the company’s Dubai office. “We look at them as a commodity not as a method of payment,” she said. “There is growing demand in the U.A.E. and worldwide.”

Regal will apply for trading licences in other countries around the world, she said. The DMCC licence is the company’s first for crypto currencies/commodities. Regal Assets was started in 2009, with headquarters in Waco, Texas.